Posted on 04/26/2006 6:35:00 PM PDT by Blood of Tyrants
Okay, I have seen a LOT of threads claiming that oil companies aren't really making that much on each gallon of gasoline.
Oh, really? (blink, blink) Then explain the record profits by the oil companies.
Why sure. First, US oil companies don't import all of their oil. In fact several companies actually import very little. Where do they get it? Why, from wells on private and federal land that they drilled on years and years ago. What is the extraction cost to get it out of these wells? You can be darned sure that it is nowhere near $75 a barrel. In fact, I read that it is somewhere around $7 to $15 a barrel. Add to this cost a small royalty that they pay the federal government or private land owner and refining and transportation cost and you come up with maybe $25 a barrel.
Now, mix in the oil they bought 3 or 4 months ago at $52 a barrel that is just now coming to the refinery and you have an average of between $25 and $40 a barrel.
So what we have is huge profits at the expense of the consumer. How long will it last? The prices will start to drop once they feel they are starting to harm the economy. Congress and the media and the consumers stop bothering them and they look for the next opportunity to do it all over again.
You fingured it out. Theses guy guys live on volume not on gross receipts.
What a lousy excuse!
Darned fingers...
ping - well put.
The total net profit in DOLLARS is at record levels because prices are at record levels, in DOLLARS. That's rcord levels for bith COST and TOTAL INCOME.
But the Return On Capital Employed (ROCE) is generally under 10%, which is on the low side for a large corporation.
Therefore, your theory is off base, my friend.
Psst! They did own Exon stock. They're dumping it now, because they are investing in ethanol plants and alternative energy stocks. They're also dumping Exon stock because the "people" and politicians are determined to destroy our oil companies because they committed the crime of being profitable.
No, they don't *have* do to anything. There is always a choice. People (including me) buy gas because, even at its current price, it's better than the available alternatives. You don't *have* to drive to work - you can quit and get a different job, or start your own business, or do whatever you have to do to survive. You have choices, but they are less pleasant than just coughing up the money for gas and then whining about it.
You are clueless.
That makes gas out of line today. 31 cents compared to
$1.61 is a lot better for the worker than $5.15 compared to $3.00 a gal.
Even $3.00 compared to $10.00 the workers are much worse off today.
Thank you. I just wanted some kind of a comparison.
My problem is the same as a trucker who is trying to make a living.
No one should have the right to reach into my wallet and yank out my money just because he CAN. I feel like such a fool for needing to work and gasoline has taken a 300% rise on only two years or so.
The cost of production hasn't risen that much.
And to boot, the domestic companies own the drilling, production, refining and probably the distribution facilities!
Of course they can bitch about having to pay themselves more for the price of running their trucks.
All of it is BS!
To bad so sad about taxes they have to pay!
Go back to the DUmp. Do you know who those profits go to? Everyone who has stock in the company. Everyone whose 401(k) includes mutual funds that invest in energy. Grandmothers on pensions. It's not like Exxon-Mobil is a private company owned by one evil rich guy; there's no C. Montgomery Burns rubbing his hands together saying "excellent...".
I'll ask it again - why do high fuel prices turn freepers into socialists? It's really an ugly thing.
Well, market forces will ensure that crude oil price reductions are passed on to consumers. Regulators, such as the FTC, use antitrust laws to make sure companies do not interfere with free market forces by restricting supplies of products.
Then riddle me this. Why are the Government owned or controlled Brit and Norwegian French Russian Canadian Venezuelan and (fill in the rest) who each pump far more than Exxon all getting the same price?
You want to be pissed off? Great. Go to Iowa and shoot a corn farmer. They are the guys who pushed Congress into this idiot ethanol farce that is responsible for the price run up we have now. And while you are at it, shoot the Marxist in Caracus and the Islamo Nazis in Terhan. Take them out and the bright boys in the futures market won't be so damn nervous.
My problem is the same as a trucker who is trying to make a living.
No one should have the right to reach into my wallet and yank out my money just because he CAN. I feel like such a fool for needing to work and gasoline has taken a 300% rise on only two years or so.
The cost of production hasn't risen that much.
And to boot, the domestic companies own the drilling, production, refining and probably the distribution facilities!
Of course they can bitch about having to pay themselves more for the price of running their trucks.
All of it is BS!
Bill O'Reilly? Is that you?
Time to go to bed!
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